Runaway
by Lady-Water2
Summary: When I first went out on my own, leaving Carlisle and Esme, I didn't know it would change the rest of my life. That it would lead me to becoming part of the Volturi. That Isabella Swan would come into my life.
1. Home Again

Carlisle and Esme were waiting for me as I walked up the path to the house. Esme held her arms open for me, embracing me in a mother's comfort. After all that time out there by myself it felt so nice to just be held by someone who actually cared for me. They accepted the fact that I hadn't been able to stick to Carlisle's way of life.

"Come on inside." Esme said, pulling me into the house. "We have your room ready for you, we figured you would be coming back soon. I just wish you had come home sooner."

"I'm sorry." I muttered, following her into my bedroom. "I won't do it again."

"Good. I don't think I can stand it if you run away like that again. We love you, Edward." Esme kissed me softly before leaving.

I sat down on the couch, putting my head between my hands. I felt guilty for doing what I did, but I still wanted it. I could hear it pumping through the veins of people walking past the house. Each person walking by could be someone to quench my thirst that never seemed to go away.

I growled when a man, who had killed seven girls, walked past the house. It would be so easy. Just lure him into an ally away from the house. Just one more kill. Carlisle and Esme would understand. It would be so easy. Just one more.

"Edward, where are you going?" Carlisle asked, pulling me out of the trance like state I was in.

I was standing at the front door, one hand on the handle. I was actually going to go do it if Carlisle hadn't spoken. I looked at him, concentrating on him and not the murderer turning the corner.

"Edward?" Carlisle asked, putting one hand on my shoulder.

"I'm not going anywhere." I didn't know if I believed that though.

"Good. We love you, Edward." Carlisle said, ruffling my hair like my father use to do.

"I'm going to go back upstairs. I need to think."

"If you want to talk you know we're here for you." Carlisle said as went up the stairs.

"I know. Thank you."

I sat in my room for days, letting the thirst build and build. Esme came and asked me if she could do anything. Carlisle came and asked me to go out with him to hunt. I just didn't want to do it until the thirst was so bad that instinct would take over. Then I would go with Carlisle and hunt. Not a minute before then.

I waited too long. The thirst was all that was controlling me when I finally went out to hunt. Both Carlisle and Esme were gone, I was going to go meet them at the forest. I left the house, fist clenched by my sides.

I shouldn't have taken a mortal pace as I left the city. I only made it a few blocks before a girl noticed me. A sweet little girl. Someone Esme would see as a daughter. Her thoughts were so pure. But it was too late for me to think about that.

"Are you alright, sir?" A girl asked, no older than fifteen. She was so innocent, so caring. Ready to help.

The rational part of me was locked away. The irrational side was out to play, taking control of my body. "It's my brother. He's in the ally. Could you come help him?" It was a lie that came so easily.

"Oh, sure! Is he hurt?" She ran into the ally, looking for the brother that didn't exist.

I followed in behind her, allowing her to walk into the darkest part before I took action. I pushed her against the wall, her body restrained by mine. She tried to struggle against me, tears coming down her cheeks.

"Rose, I'm sorry." I whispered, putting my mouth as the base of her throat. "Oh, so sorry."

My teeth cut through the tender flesh, a tilde wave of warmth gushing over my tongue. I moaned, crushing her arm that I was holding. She screamed, pushing against me with her good arm until the venom started working.

When I had killed her is when the rational part of me was let free. I dropped her, backing away until I ran into the wall behind me. I had killed someone who didn't deserve to die. This girl had never done anything bad. She wanted to be a nurse. She had wanted to help people and I had killed her. There was no excuse for what I did. It was my own damn fault.

I started running. It was a human run, flying past the few people out at the late hour. My feet hit the pavement with a loud thud as I ran. I didn't know where I was going. I just had to get away. Carlisle and Esme would be so disappointed. I couldn't go back. I couldn't burden them any longer. I would go and try and make it on my own.

When I stopped running, several days later, I was in a different state. I was in the middle of the country. There were no humans near me. It was just trees and deer running through. I leaned against the tree, holding my head.

I thought back on the few days I had spent running. Carlisle had chased me for a day or so. He gave up and went home when I crossed the state border. Before he had turned away he had told me that I was still welcomed back. They still loved me. There would always be a place for me with them.

I wasn't going to go back this time. There was no place for me with them. I couldn't live by their way of life. I was going to be like the rest of our kind. A killer. I was going to be the monster that our kind was suppose to be.


	2. Fight

The years passed. I kept returning to Carlisle and Esme only to leave after a short time. Carlisle tried to help me by turning Rosalie into one of us. I rejected her and went back to roaming around alone within a few weeks. I didn't want someone to love, I wanted someone to kill me.

I thought about going to the Volturi on more than one occasion. Carlisle assured me that they wouldn't kill me. They would want me to join them. I had a gift they would want to use. He begged me not to go to them. He didn't want to see me become one of them. They had good intentions, but that didn't always mean what they did was good.

"Edward, don't do it. The Volturi do things that they really ought not to do. Please don't go. We'll never see you." Carlisle said, walking with me through the forest.

"I've got to do something, Carlisle. I can't stay here any longer. There's nothing here. I've been through the whole country. Every state. I've met others who talk about the Volturi. I saw the Volturi."

He stopped walking. "What?"

"I saw the down south. They were cleaning up what some newborns had done. I could do good through them, Carlisle. They keep the peace."

"Or you could come home! If you would just resist the urge that you feel you could get over the thirst you feel for human blood, Edward! Animals provide everything we need to live! Come back. Give it another try!"

"You're weaker. I don't want to do it. It's not enough. I need human blood!" My voice rose several times, causing birds to take flight. "I don't want to live your lifestyle, Carlisle! I can't be like you and the others! I never will be!"

"How are we weaker, Edward! We resist the urges! Rosalie has yet to drink the blood of a human! Yet, you who are older than her, won't even try and let go of this. Why are you doing this to yourself! You shouldn't. You could be happy with us." Carlisle said, pointing a finger at me. His loving side had been replaced by a very angry Carlisle I had never seen.

"I don't want to do it! Go home and be happy with your family, Carlisle. Tell Alice I say hello for me." I started walking away, my back turned on him.

He ran at me, pushing me into a tree. "Edward Cullen, you are coming home with me wether you like it or not." He growled, pinning me to the tree.

I turned around and pushed him. I was stronger by a lot. Carlisle had never drank human blood. He didn't have the strength that I had He couldn't defeat me because I was stronger than him in so many ways. I knew everything he was going to do before he did it.

He went flying backwards, hitting a tree. He fell to the ground, where he staggered to his feet. I growled, showing my teeth. He did the same thing, before he got himself under control. I continued to growl, but let my lip fall back down over my teeth.

"Edward." He was pleading, holding his hand out. "Just come home. We miss you." His light brown eyes, were pleading with me. He wanted me to go home with him.

"No thank you." I started running. He would never catch me. I was faster.

_"There is still a place for you with us. There always will be. We love you, Edward. You're my son."_ That was the last thing I heard from Carlisle before I was so far away that I could no longer hear his thoughts.

No matter what Carlisle said, I was going to go to the Volturi. They could help me. He just hadn't given them a chance. I would. I would prove to him that they weren't all bad. He just couldn't see that they did good things.

I would go to Italy without looking back. They wouldn't follow me there. I wouldn't see them any longer, but I hardly saw them as it was. I hadn't seen the rest of the family in seven or eight years. Carlisle was the only one who came and found me. Rosalie didn't even care about me, that was clear from the last time I had seen them.

She had stood there, leaning against the wall, looking down on me. To her I was a piece of trash on the side of the road. I didn't mean anything to her, and she didn't mean anything to me. It was a mutual hate of each other.

Alice and Esme still cared about me. I hardly knew Alice, but she begged me to stay just a while longer. Esme treated me like her son. She wanted me to stay as well. She didn't like seeing my so unhappy, she wanted to see me smile again. I was the first of her children, there was a special place for me that none of the others could have. To Alice I was a brother that she wanted to be around.

Emmett and Jasper both had mixed emotions about me. Emmett didn't know much about me. Jasper knew enough. He knew that I was getting to do what he didn't. He also had trouble sticking to Carlisle lifestyle, but he did it for Alice. He knew how I felt, not only because he felt it but because he had felt that way for years.

I wasn't going back to that. Carlisle and Esme were wrong. There wasn't a place for me in the Cullen family. I was the outcast who couldn't follow the rules. The bad child. That was all I would ever be in their eyes, even if they wouldn't admit it.

On January 24, 1956 I got onto a plane and headed for Italy. I was going to the Volturi, they couldn't stop me. They wouldn't stop me.


	3. Welcome to Forks

Chapter Three

"Edward, you're home!" Esme shouted, running out to greet me. She threw her arms around me, and kissed my cheek over and over again. "I've missed you so much. Don't ever do that to me again!" She slapped my arm, narrowing her eyes at me.

"I'm sorry, Esme." I said, kissing her cheek. "But you know I won't be here for long. I have to go back soon."

"Edward!" Alice ran out the house, jumping on me. She was squeezing the life out of me. "We've missed you so much."

The rest of the family appeared on the porch. Carlisle leaned against the pillar on the porch, legs and arms crossed. Rosalie didn't look please, her mouth was twisted into a frown. Jasper was standing in a position close to Carlisle's. Emmett leaned against the rail, watching me. It looked like I only had two people on my side at the moment.

_"Welcome back, Edward." _Carlisle, still wasn't moving, just looking at me. He was frowning. I had done the one thing he really didn't want me to do . "It's been a while." His voice had a cold edge to it.

"Carlisle. Not now." Esme said, holding my hand. "Let him get settled in."

"No, Esme. He needs to understand what he did!" Carlisle took a few steps towards me._ "Come on, we're going for a walk."_

I followed him into the woods, walking at a human speed. He had his hands thrust into his pockets, back stiff. It was like he didn't trust me to walk behind him. That I would do something to hurt him.

"Carlisle, I'm sorry."

He spun around, sticking that finger in my face. "Sorry doesn't cut it this time, Edward! You did the one thing that I couldn't live with! You went to the Volturi!"

"So did you!"

"I left. I didn't become one of them. I've heard the rumors going around. I'm not stupid. I've heard everything they say about you. How many times have you come back to the United States and never even made an attempt to find us?"

"I'm sorry, Carlisle. What else do you want me to say?"

"Don't go back. Tell them you want to stay here for a while. Just a few years, Edward. Can't you give your family that much?" He lowered his finger, shoulder slumped.

I looked down at the ground. "Yes. I'll stay for a while. I'll give your way of life another chance. I owe you that much don't I?"

"You don't owe me anything. I just want you to be happy. I know you're not happy in Volterra. How could you be?"

Thunder cut through the silence that had settled around us. A flash of lightning brought the forest around us alive. A heavy down pour of rain fell down around us, breaking through the canopy above us.

"Welcome to Forks, Edward." Carlisle laughed, when I gave the rain an evil glare. "Come on. Alice and Esme have a room for you here. They do it every time we move. There is always a place for you."

We walked back into the house, running out of the rain. Alice started pulling me up the stairs. This house was nicer than any of the others they had ever stayed in. An old house in the middle of the forest. It was perfect. It felt like home.

"I'm so happy you came home, Edward. I've missed you. You make life fun." She started chattering away, pushing the door open to the room I suppose was mine.

"I'm happy I'm home too." I kissed her head, ruffling her hair. She swatted my hand away.

"Your eyes are brown." She cocked her head to the side, looking at them.

"Yea. I've been in the United States for a month or so. I've started Carlisle's diet again. My eyes were still tinted red so I put my contacts in." I pulled one out, showing her the little thing that I had in my eyes.

She pulled the other one out. "Don't wear them at home. Besides, your eyes only have a little red tint to them. They could pass for normal human eyes."

I went over to the leather couch, that was facing a wall of glass. "Tell me what you are all up to. We don't hear about you much in Volterra."

She sat beside me, pulling her knees up to her chin. "We're going to high school right now. Carlisle is a doctor at the hospital here. Esme is a stay at home mom. We're trying to live a normal human life while we're here. This is the second time we've come here."

"What about Forks? Is there anything strange about this town?"

"No. There is a little excitement going around now. The police chief's daughter, Isabella Swan, but she likes to be called Bella, just came back. She's in my Biology class. She's very smart. All the guys are trying to date her. I think it's so funny."

"Why is Carlisle so mad at me? I know he didn't want me to do what I did, but he's really mad." I looked out at the trees swaying in the wind outside. Rain was pelting the glass, and a roll of thunder shook the house.

Alice didn't answer right away. _"You left us, Edward."___

"Carlisle felt like you had betrayed him. The fact that you couldn't stick to our way of life was something he could live with. The fact that you outright disobeyed him by going to the Volturi was what really got him. He worried for years over wether or not they were going to kill you. We all did. You never came back." She looked like she would be crying if she could.

"Sorry doesn't cut it does it?" She didn't have to answer for me to know the answer. "I'm going to stay here for a while. The Volturi can kiss my ass, they don't need me that much. The rest of their guard can handle things for a while."

"Then I should tell you a few things. According to Forks, Rosalie and Jasper are twins and Carlisle and Esme's foster children. Emmett and I were adopted by Carlisle and Esme. Jasper and Rosalie go by the last name of Hale."

"Where do I fit into this wonderful lie you've told the town?"

She thought for a second. "You could be Carlisle's brother. Visiting while your school is out."

"Perfect. I've been Esme's brother as well. I've been everyone's brother now."

"Take it or leave it, brother, or should I say Uncle Edward!"

"I'll take it. Just don't ever call me that again. I swear I kill you if you do." I ruffled her hair again, before reclining on the couch. "So here begins my life in Forks."


End file.
